Klarinet Archive - Posting 000563.txt from 2003/04
From: "Lelia Loban" <lelialoban@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Doing it yourself
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 00:38:19 -0400
Richard Bush wrote,
>You know Bill, I don't understand why so many
>people are afraid to take their clarinets apart.
I do. It's fear of not being able to put their clarinets back together
again, and it's often a well- founded fear. At flea markets, I've seen a
number of disassembled or partially re-assembled wind instruments (flutes,
clarinets, even a baritone sax) with the separated keys jumbled higgledy-
piggledy into the cases. Often, by the time these clarinets fetch up at
the flea market, the keys have become bent and scratched from rattling
around loose in the case. The keys scratch up the wood or metal body, too.
Usually the result is enough damage to make the instrument not worth
buying. Sometimes a few of the keys have new pads that don't come close to
fitting (with the rest of the new, uninstalled pads in a plastic bag or
just tossed loose into the case). Somebody's bought a pad set without
measuring first. That's a sure sign of somebody who didn't know enough to
try that job in the first place.
Taking off the register key to clean out the gunk is no big deal, since the
register key doesn't connect to anything else. I think every clarinet
player would benefit from learning to do that easy maintenance job, since a
dirty register tube happens so often and causes so many problems. But
anyone who wants to do serious disassembly needs a good repair manual, such
as the old Erick Brand manual that Ferree's Tools sells, and needs to buy
or make a chart to identify what all the keys look like when they're *off*
the clarinet (because identification tags can fall off). Being methodical
about labelling parts, taking notes and keeping track of every step of
everything pays off, in lower blood pressure and higher-quality results.
Take apart and reassemble one or two clarinets and you'll know the layout
forever. People who do this job often enough to know it isn't rocket
science may overestimate how easily a beginner can do it--but the first
couple of disassemblies can be daunting. Lots of keys. Lots of springs.
Lots of itty-bitty screws that are not interchangeable. Among other
things, the keys have to be put back in the right order, or else you end up
taking a lot of them off again. In those Humpty Dumpty cases, I often
notice that some keys have been replaced on the instrument, while keys that
should have gone on first are loose in the case: Someone tried to do
things out of order, got frustrated or confused, and gave up. I don't mean
to discourage anyone--quite the opposite--but the number of Humpty Dumpties
I see for sale cheap suggests to me that a lot of people don't put nearly
enough planning and organization into the first try, and end up
discouraging themselves.
BTW, I saw the crummiest clarinet lamp in recent memory at the opening day
of the Columbia, MD flea last weekend. Not satisfied with turning a metal
clarinet into a lamp, the *artiste* had painted it with thick, lumpy, gold
radiator paint. The edge of the paper shade was home-decorated with gold
rick-rack and 2-inch gold fringe. This little monstrosity was so horrible
that I almost wanted it, out of sheer perversity. It could have become the
star attraction in a kitsch museum.
;-)
Lelia Loban
lelialoban@-----.net
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